HOUGHTON — With two-way traffic restored on College Avenue Friday, the temporary traffic lights are coming down on Sharon Avenue.

Houghton City Council members informally agreed with City Manager Eric Waara’s recommendation to return to four-way flashing stops at the intersections on Gundlach and Military roads. The lights were put up this summer to handle increased traffic on Sharon Avenue, the official detour for southbound traffic on U.S. 41.

The city had looked at keeping them up after receiving some positive feedback on the lights over the summer.

Waara said keeping the lights up would require investing in other infrastructure, such as left turn lanes or pedestrian signals, timers and controls near school crossings.

Between road infrastructure and equipment, costs could reach six figures per intersection, he said.

“The lights that were up there before, sure they were annoying, but traffic flowed up there,” he said. “Based on the traffic flow numbers for Sharon Avenue, they don’t meet the warrant for a red-yellow-green stop light.”

Mayor Bob Backon agreed, saying it would be faster to make left turns under the old system.

“We were Midwest nice at intersections before,” Waara said. “And it flowed.”

Council members also pointed to safety concerns with the traffic lights, which see cars crossing through the intersection at higher speeds compared to a four-way stop.

One of the lights is at the intersection of Sharon and Gundlach Road near the fire hall. Mayor Pro Tem Robert Megowen, a member of the fire department, said 20 members of the department had asked for the traffic lights to be taken down.

That area of M-26 traditionally hasn’t been a problem for pedestrian accidents, said Police Chief John Donnelly. However, he said, the Michigan Department of Transportation has found traffic lights lead to a greater number of accidents, even if they reduce the number of more serious incidents.

“The four-way stop, it’s not convenient if you’re trying to make time,” he said. “But we don’t really want people making time on that road.”

Donnelly said if funds could be secured, he’d like to see a roundabout, or traffic islands midway for pedestrians similar to what was installed on College Avenue.

The College Avneue project had been intended to be finished by August, but experienced a series of delays, including the discovery of an uncapped mine shaft below the surface of U.S. 41. Construction will resume in the Franklin Square area after college graduations in May.

In other action, council:

• Authorized Waara to add language to the city’s parks and recreation ordinance. People will be barred from sleeping or camping overnight in public parks, city-owned undeveloped property or public parking lots. That excludes the city RV park or areas where it is specifically permitted.

• Feeding birds in a public park or public parking lot was also banned.

• Another addition clarified that snowmobiles or ORVs can’t park or operate in parks off the designated trail. This was done to keep the vehicles off of the new pier, Waara said.

• Discussed changing the process by which the city sells properties. Waara will prepare a draft for the council clarifying the steps in the process, which it can then take up at a future meeting.

• Approved a resolution stipulating that $110,737.30 in city match funds for the Kestner Waterfront Culvert project come from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act money.

• Approved $4,000 from the general fund for pay-to-dock kiosks along the waterfront. One would be installed at the pier, one at bridge view Park and one at Kestner Waterfront Park. Waara said some local boaters have squatted at the docks for weeks at a time, taking up space the city would like to keep open for transient boaters.